Page 41 of Desire

“I assure you, my wife has nothing to say to you. Have a good night.”

“I’d seen somewhere that the mayor had gotten married but didn’t dig too much into it. I had no idea it was her. Are you aware she was dating us at the same time?”

“She wasn’t, but it doesn’t matter. She’s my wife now. Have a good night,” Aziel repeated.

This time, André took the hint and disappeared to another area of the restaurant. Aziel didn’t sit down until he’d rounded the corner. Before he could address the situation, the waitress returned with Azaria’s ice cream. After getting her situated with it, he looked at me.

“Who was that?”

“The guy who stood me up three times in a row.”

Before he could respond, my phone vibrated, and André’s name flashed across the screen. My eyes connected with Aziel’s, and the frown he wore let me know what kind of time he was on.

“Open it,” he demanded.

“Baby.”

“Open it, Desire.”

I sighed as I unlocked my phone and read the text from André.

André: He has a woman tucked away in every corner of the city. Is that the kinda nigga you want?

Rolling my eyes, I handed my phone to Aziel and watched him read the message. He handed it back to me without a word before heading in the direction André had gone.

“Baby!” I called after him.

He kept going, so I grabbed my purse, put Azaria on my hip, and followed him. When I rounded the corner, my eyes widened at the sight. Aziel had André hemmed up against the wall. I couldn’t hear what was said but knew it wasn’t good. I didn’t want to scare Azaria, so I went back to the table to wait.

“Block his number and let me know if he contacts you again,” he barked when he returned.

“Did you forget you’re the mayor? You can’t just go around putting your hands on people. Somebody was probably recording.”

“If so, I’ll deal with it,” he said calmly.

“Are you all ready for your bill?” the waitress asked as she approached our table.

Aziel had been standing since he returned. He reached into his pocket and took out a wad of cash, counting off what I assumed was enough to cover the tip.

“Thank you,” he said as he handed the young lady the cash. “No change needed.”

“Thank you. Have a great night.”

“Seriously, Az—” I began as I stood, but my words were stifled when he hopped in my face.

“Desire, one thing you need to understand about me is I don’t play about mine. You’re mine, and when it comes to you, I will call the media, tell them where to meet me, and let them watch me beat his ass before resigning.”

Well, damn!

“Umm, okay.”

I had nothing else to say about that situation. The ride home was filled with chatter from Azaria. Since she became one of my students, she’d been a lively, talkative, and friendly little girl. She talked about everything from the ice cream she’d devoured to one of the boys in class being mean to her.

“Why didn’t you tell me Preston was mean to you today?”

“’Cause I say to him, you better stop being mean, and he say he sorry.”

“That’s right, baby girl. Don’t let anybody be mean to you,” Aziel encouraged.

---